Sergeant Bates's March

By John Schweitzer

A Reading directed by Patrick Fernan

The first MTG-X production will be
a reading of Sergeant Bates's March, a dramatization by John Schweitzer,
based on research by John Vorndran,
of the true story of Sergeant Gilbert Bates, who served in the First Wisconsin
Heavy Artillery during the Civil War and who, three years later, walked
unarmed from Vicksburg across Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina,
North Carolina and Virginia to Washington, carrying the Stars and Stripes
to win a bet in which he asserted that during the depths of Reconstruction
the Southerners were not still hostile to the North.

The reading is part of the development process. The play will be produced
in the Stoughton Opera House in September and in the Edgerton Performing
Arts Center in October as part of Edgerton's Sesquicentennial Celebration.
Written comments from the audience will be encouraged. Admission free;
donations accepted.